


a friend in need

by Mayarene Rose (Paradise_of_Mary_Jane)



Series: Whumptober 2019 [8]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Dick gets stabbed, Early Teen Titans Era, Fab Five, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, The Titans are having none of his shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-11-25 21:08:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20918630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradise_of_Mary_Jane/pseuds/Mayarene%20Rose
Summary: Robin gets stabbed and the other Teen Titans try to take care of him.Dick is, somehow, not happy about this.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Day 8: Stab Wound

Sure, Roy signed up to be a superhero, but he definitely did not sign up to stitching up his best friend in a cave they like to call a clubhouse. It doesn’t help that he was standing right next to Robin when the guy got _stabbed._

(The criminal who was stupid enough to stab Robin is currently at the police station, delivered by Kid Flash himself, with arrow wounds on both shoulders and rope burns on his wrists, but that’s just besides the point.)

“Roy.” Donna’s voice is sharp and urgent. It’s enough to snap him out of his daze. “Focus.”

“Yeah,” Roy says. “Yeah.”

They had laid Dick down on his bed. The poor bastard was still conscious. It’s not gonna stay that way for long, if Donna’s gonna stitch him up. She’s currently putting pressure on the wound while Roy’s getting the first aid kit and then some. 

(Perks of being trained superheroes: they know the importance of having easy access to a mini-hospital in their living spaces at all times. None of them are anywhere close to being trained medical professionals, but they can do the basics well enough. Never know when you’re gonna need it, after all.

Roy just wishes someone told them that needing that training wouldn’t be so freakin’ nerve wracking.)

Still, Dick gives him a wide smile. His eyes are glassy and his face looks like it’s forgotten what blood is, but he’s still smiling. Roy is genuinely considering if he should punch him.

“S’gonna be alright, Roy,” Dick slurs. Robin always gets loopy when he’s injured. “S’just a scratch.”

Roy stares. He wonders if screaming would make him feel better or worse.

“Roy!”

“Right.” Roy shakes himself and hands the first aid kit to Donna. 

“Gonna be alright,” Dick says again, as if he isn’t literally bleeding out right in front of their eyes.

“Shut the fuck up Robin,” Roy says roughly.

\--

Dick wakes up a few hours later. Roy was supposed to be watching him, but apparently, sewing up your friend’s stomach is exhausting and he dozed off slightly. Another thing: Roy’s a really light sleeper but Dick, apparently even while injured, is really good at sneaking out.

Roy jolts awake to find the bed empty and the door empty. He runs out of the room to find Dick swaying on his feet, still looking like death warmed over, and trying to convince the entire room to let him hide out in the clubhouse for a few days so he can hide the stab wound from Batman.

Donna is looking downright murderous. Wally looks ready to bolt. Garth looks like he wants to sink into the sea.

Roy feels the beginnings of a headache coming on.

“Come on please!” Dick says. 

No one answers him.

“I’m not helping you hide a stab wound from Batman,” is what Roy says when Dick turns to him. “The guy hates me enough as it is.”

“Batman doesn’t hate you,” Dick argues. “And it’s not that bad. It’s just a graze, really.”

It is very definitely not a graze. Roy was three feet next to Dick when he got stabbed. The knife was buried hilt-deep in his stomach. He lost more than 2 pints of blood and passed out. They had to carry him back to the clubhouse. The wound just about missed his organs, which is the only reason Batman doesn’t already know. 

(That and the fact that Donna actually paid attention during first aid training and Roy was there to help out. It was a gruelling half an hour for the two of them.)

Robin is an idiot if he thinks he can hide that from anyone. Or that any of the Titans would actually help him. 

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” Roy says. “Still not helping you.”

Dick looks across the clubhouse. Garth and Wally aren’t even bothering to pretend they’re not meeting his eyes. His eyes fall on Donna. Normally, Roy would think that Donna would indulge Dick’s fantasies, except. 

Well, Dick got stabbed and it was Donna who had to sew him up. 

She’s pretty pissed.

Sure enough, she looks up and just says, “No,” in a voice that brooks on arguments. Dick slumps in his seat.

“You should just go home, you know,” Roy says. “Pretty sure Batman has better medical experience than all of us combined.”

They’re all trained in first aid, obviously, but Roy’s sixteen and he’s the oldest person in the clubhouse. Their medical experience when it comes to deep stab wounds is basically shoddy stitches and a lot of blind hope.

“I don’t want to,” Dick says. Because apparently, a sick and injured Robin is also a very whiny Robin.

Donna glares at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“He’s gonna worry!” Dick says. “And overprotective! It’s annoying. I won’t get to go here for at least a month if he finds out.”

Only Robin, Roy thinks, would have the balls to call Batman ‘annoying and overprotective.’ Possibly because he’s the only person who can actually get away with it.

“We’re taking you to Gotham in a few hours,” Donna says shortly. “Get some rest.”

“Guys,” Dick tries again.

No one comes to his aid.

\--

They take him back to Gotham after three hours. Roy forced him back to bed after his temper tantrum and threatened to drug him if he didn’t go back to sleep. He also threatened to call Batman if Dick so much as thought of trying to sneak out.

Dick went to sleep in the end, though it’s probably due to his body giving out on him than lack of stubbornness on his part.

He’s a little less pale but a lot more sullen when they reach the Batcave. Roy makes it a point of never actually stepping foot in that place unless absolutely necessary because it’s weird and creepy and way too dark to be practical. Most of the Titans feel the same way. Still, they felt that Dick probably needed the support.

Dick is currently not talking to them, though whether that’s from genuine annoyance at being ratted out or just being too exhausted to actually talk to anything is anybody’s guess.

Batman glares at them at seeing his state as if it’s personally their fault, which yeah, he does that. Dick glares back at him, in all his 4-foot-9 glory. It is genuinely hilarious. Roy almost forgot to be annoyed with him. 

Almost.

The two of them are at a standoff for about half a minute. Roy wonders if Batman’s gonna ask, and what kind of blowout’s gonna happen. Ollie would totally freak if Roy got stabbed. Probably drag Hal and Dinah with them to the hospital for moral support or something like that. He’s overprotective in weird ways like that.

Then, Batman tucks Robin under the folds of his cape and he comes willingly, leaning into the larger man’s touch. Dick looks exhausted, which blood loss will definitely do that to you. He still sends a baleful look towards the Teen Titans because he’s kinda petty like that. 

Neither of them say anything. They seem to be communicating through brooding silences, which.

Yeah, that sounds like the kind of thing people from Gotham do actually, from what Roy’s heard. He’s not in the least bit surprised.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stitches get infected, because _of course_ they do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 11: Stitches

Dick’s running a pretty high fever, and the wound hurts like he was stabbed all over again. The manor was empty. Alfred was away and he made Bruce promise he was going to stay with Dick, and he did, for the first day. Except the Justice League had needed Batman’s help on an interplanetary dispute. Dick made Bruce go, because it was just stupid not to. He promised to behave and he did. He stayed in bed all day even though he wanted to go to the gym.

But still, he woke up the next day and the stitches were somehow infected.

He could have called Bruce, probably should have called Bruce, except Bruce was busy saving the world and probably the galaxy. Dick’s not about to interrupt _that. _He can deal with infected stitches on his own.

Dick does the only reasonable thing: he goes back to the clubhouse.

He steps off the transporter, feeling more than a little out of it and unsteady. His fever’s kind of off the charts and breathing currently hurts. He’s basically keeping himself upright out of sheer willpower. Dick has a lot of willpower, but he thinks that’s the kind of thing that loses to biological functions eventually.

Roy’s the only one in the common area, as far as he can see. He’s sprawled on the couch and reading a book. Or trying to read. His shoulders are too tense and he’s gripping the book too tightly. Roy’s mad. Going to the clubhouse might have been a bad idea. Roy rarely gets angry but Dick really doesn’t want to be there for the aftermath of that one. Especially if he’s injured and technically not even supposed to be upright.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on bed rest for another week, Robbie?” Roy asks, not looking up. And yup, he’s definitely mad. That tight voice says it all.

Dick forces a laugh. It comes out sounding like a cough. “Yeah, about that,” he says. “I think I may have a little problem problem.”

And of course, that’s when his legs choose to give out. He blacks out just as his head hits the ground.

When he wakes up, he’s in his room in the clubhouse and Roy is looming over him with a panicked expression on his face. 

“You snuck out with infected stitches?” he demands. Not just panicked apparently. Panicked and pissed. Well, Dick can’t really blame him but still, is it too much to ask that people be nice to him while he feels like terrible?

“It seemed like the best option at the time,” Dick says.

“You need a doctor not teenagers with too much free time on their hands!”

Dick shrugs and winces when it jostles his wound “No one else, really,” he says. Alfred and Leslie were away and the entire JLA was busy. It’s not like Dick could just walk into a hospital and ask to be treated for an infected stab wound. That’s just stupid.

Roy curses under his breath. Damn. Dick hadn’t even known Roy _knew _all those words.

“Where are the others?” Dick asks.

“Fighting some giant octopus,” Roy says. “Probably related to whatever the JLA’s dealing with. Arrows don’t really do anything to it so they left me here to hold down the fort.”

Oh. That’s why Roy’s mad. It sucks getting sidelined, especially if you’re not injured. It sucks even more if it’s specifically because you’re not a metahuman. Especially if it’s not a world-ending event and other, older non-metahumans get to go because they have ‘more experience.’

(Experience is a dumb excuse to use on them. Most of the Teen Titans have more experience than half the heroes in the Justice League.)

Yeah, he gets why Roy’s pissed. Dick would be too, if he was not having trouble sitting up without falling over again.

“Well that’s not good,” Dick says. It’s a pretty sucky time to have an infected stab wound. Still, Dick’s not stupid enough to suggest joining the fight. Roy might be pissed at other heroes but that doesn’t mean he won’t knock Dick out if Dick annoys him, and no one needs that right now.

“No,” Roy says. “It’s not. I’m pretty bad at treating stuff.” Which is an outright lie. Dick’s seen his first aid. It puts most trained medical professionals to shame. He doesn’t call him out on it, though. Self-deprecation seems to make Roy feel better. “Do you know what to do with your wound?”

“Uh, probably,” Dick says. “If I can see it, which I can’t.”

Roy lets out a shuddering breath. “Okay, well from the looks of it, you need to take antibiotics like yesterday so I’m just gonna. Go get some. Stay there.”

Dick grins up at him. Bruce made him memorize the antibiotics to take in emergencies like these, but he’s feeling a little too out of it to trust his judgement.The world feels… fuzzy. He probably shouldn’t be making medical decisions for a long while. Or at least until the fever stops making him see doubles.

And it sucks being sick on his own. Roy’s great company. Dick’s pretty lucky he’s not out fighting whatever’s trying to take over the world this time. 

Roy gives him antibiotics and some painkillers, which Dick gladly takes. It makes him drowsy. He passes out with Roy watching over him, arms crossed over his chest, not looking so annoyed anymore. His book lay forgotten on the table because he’s too busy watching over Dick.

Dick falls asleep with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. Stand-alone sequel. It's basically canon that Dick's a terrible patient and I will never not find that funny.
> 
> I'm acediscowlng on tumblr
> 
> As always, comments give me life so pls.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this is gonna have a sequel. At some point in this month.
> 
> I'm acediscowlng on tumblr! As always, your comments give me life <3


End file.
